Most businesses, government agencies, schools and other organizations employ dedicated communications systems (also referred to as “networks”) that enable computers, servers, printers, facsimile machines, telephones, security cameras and the like to communicate with each other, through a private network, and with remote locations via a telecommunications service provider. Such communications system may be hard-wired through, for example, the walls and/or ceilings of a building using communications cables and connectors. Typically, the communications cables contain eight insulated conductors such as copper wires that are arranged as four differential twisted pairs of conductors. Each twisted pair may be used to transmit a separate differential communications signal. Individual communications connectors (which are also referred to herein as “connector ports”) such as RJ-45 style modular wall jacks are mounted in offices, conference rooms and other work areas throughout the building. The communications cables and any intervening connectors provide communications paths from the connector ports (e.g., modular wall jacks) in offices and other rooms, hallways and common areas of the building (referred to herein as “work area outlets”) to network devices (e.g., network switches, servers, memory storage devices, etc.) that may be located in a computer room, telecommunications closet or the like. Communications cables from external telecommunication service providers may also terminate within the computer room or telecommunications closet.
A commercial data center is a facility that may be used to run the computer-based applications that handle the core electronic business and operational data of one or more organizations. The expansion of the Internet has also led to a growing need for a so-called “Internet data centers,” which are data centers that are used by online retailers, Internet portals, search engine companies and the like to provide large numbers of users simultaneous, secure, high-speed, fail-safe access to their web sites. Both types of data centers may host hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of servers, routers, memory storage systems and other associated equipment. In these data centers, fiber optic communications cables and/or communications cables that include four differential pairs of insulated conductive (e.g., copper) wires are typically used to provide a hard-wired communications system that interconnects the data center equipment.
In both office network and data center communications systems, the communications cables that are connected to end devices (e.g., servers, memory storage devices, network switches, work area computers, printers, facsimile machines, etc.) may terminate into one or more communications patching systems that may simplify later connectivity changes. Typically, a communications patching system includes one or more “patch panels” that are mounted on equipment rack(s) or in cabinet(s), and a plurality of “patch cords” that are used to make interconnections between patch panels, network switches and other network devices. As is known to those of skill in the art, a “patch cord” refers to a communications cable that has a connector such as, for example, an RJ-45 plug, on at least one end thereof. A “patch panel” refers to an interconnection device that includes a plurality (e.g., 24 or 48) of connector ports. Each connector port (e.g., an RJ-45 jack) on a patch panel may have a plug aperture on a front side thereof that is configured to receive the connector of a patch cord (e.g., an RJ-45 plug), and the back end of each connector port may be configured to receive a communications cable. Each connector port on a patch panel acts to connect the conductors of the patch cord that is plugged into the front side of the connector port with the corresponding conductors of the communications cable that is terminated into the back end of the connector port.
In a typical office network, “horizontal” cables are used to connect each work area outlet (which typically are RJ-45 jacks) to the back end of a respective connector port (which also typically are RJ-45 jacks) on a set of patch panels. The first end of each of these horizontal cables is terminated into the back end of one of the work area outlets, and the second end of each of these horizontal cables is terminated into the back end of a respective one of the connector ports on the patch panel. In an “interconnect” patching system, a single set of patch cords is used to directly connect the connector ports on the set of patch panels to respective connector ports on network switches. In a “cross-connect” patching system, two sets of patch panels are provided, where the first set of patch cords is used to connect the connector ports on the set of patch panels to respective connector ports on a second set of patch panels, and the second set of (typically single-ended) patch cords is used to connect the connector ports on the second set of patch panels to respective connector ports on the network switches. In both interconnect and cross-connect patching systems the cascaded set of plugs, jacks and cable segments that connect a connector port on a network switch to a work area end device is typically referred to as a channel.
The connections between the work area end devices and the network switches may need to be changed for a variety of reasons, including equipment changes, adding or deleting users, office moves, etc. In an interconnect patching system, these connections are typically changed by rearranging the patch cords that run between the set of patch panels and the network switches. In a cross-connect patching system, the connections between the work area end devices and the network switches are typically changed by rearranging the patch cords in the set of patch cords that run between these two sets of patch panels.
The patch cord connections are typically recorded in a computer-based connectivity database. Each time patching changes are made, this connectivity database is updated to reflect the new patching connections. Unfortunately, in practice technicians may neglect to update the connectivity database each and every time a change is made, and/or may make errors in logging changes. As such, the connectivity database may not be complete and/or accurate.
In order to reduce or eliminate such errors, a variety of systems have been proposed that automatically log the patch cord connections in a communications patching system. These automated or “intelligent” patching systems typically use special patch panels that employ sensors, radio frequency identification tags, serial ID chips, common mode signalling and the like and/or special patch cords that include an additional conductor to detect patch cord insertions and removals and/or to automatically track patching connections.